XIX Living Tactica Update: Recon Marines

I updated the Recon Marine entry for the XIX Living Tactica.

"It's hard to justify Recon Marines when Mor Deythan are so good. If you already have RMs you could use them as sniper Mor Deythan. They are so much better and cheaper in almost every situation. The reason is the Support Squad rule, it really hurts them. If it weren't for this rule I would be tempted to take them over normal Tacs because they have access to Cameleoline, Scout, and Shroud Bombs. But since they can't be your compulsory troops, spending points on them is not easy."

Special Mission Types v1

Planet Strike

Being the Attacker is extremely favorable. Imagine a squad of Dark Furies assaulting turn one due to the Shock Tactics rule? Opt for the Attacker Force Chart. Mission Specific FOCs are some of the rare non-AoD charts that allow Rites of War. Mor Deythan, Seekers, Dark Furies, and Destroyers can put some serious hurt in this game mode.

The Attacker FOC, and the Defender FOC too, allow you to choose a unit to auto-pass or fail a reserve roll each turn. This lets you keep, for example, a unit of Dark Furies in reserve until Maun is in place so they can use his Nightfall Vox for accurate deepstrike. They can then assault thanks to the Shock Tactics rule. Don't forget: anything with a Jump Pack gets Furious Charge due to RG legion rules.

Attacking or defending, the XIXth legion is always on the offensive.

Maun isn't called The Master of Descent for no reason. He absolutely thrives in this mission. Attacker or Defender his rules and buffs will see use.

As for attacker stratagems I recommend:

• Dawn Assault for Night Fighting first turn. Load up on those infravisors and cameleoline.
• Gremlin Curse to keep your opponents shooting down. Combined with the above makes for some great defense while you're on the offense.
• Ground Observer. More accurate firestorms. Plus it's fluffy.

Defender:

• Rapid Reinforcements. Between Maun almost guaranteeing Pods and Flyers; this guarantees things like Dark Furies and Destroyers to come down within Mauns 18” bubble, shoot and assault. Absolutely brutal.
• Krak Mines. What's not to like?
• Ammunition Stores. Your assaults and deepstriking are accurate. Why not your shooting as well?

Cities of Death

The new Cities of Death got streamlined from the old version. Now it's essentially a a series of urban themed maelstrom missions on a table with 6+ medium and/or large ruins with special deployment maps.

Infiltrating no longer requires a stratagem to use so go nuts. The XIXth methods of war are perfectly suited for dense urban terrain. Mor Deythan infiltrating and scouting around hunting targets, Dark Furies stalking the roof tops, drop pods and gunships descending from above.

Speed and positioning are key to any maelstrom mission. In CoD the unique objectives include securing ruins, purging them of enemy occupants, or securing the right one. High alpha lists will do well here. Deathstorm drop pods will be devastating.

Terrain is dense and urban. Make use of cover and cameleoline. Cameleoline on Praevians with Castellax tat have Targeting Arrays will do very well here. Plus since he has a Cortex Controller you could take Vorax for some outflanking/scouting killer bug-bots.

Fire Raptors and Darkwings can use the buildings for cover and stalk the ruins. The Darkwings are especially dangerous if they're transporting units like Mor Deythan.

Quad mortar rapiers will do well with infiltrated Vox for LoS. Their frag shells can pin an entrenched force to give you the edge when attacking into occupied spaces.

City Fights

If Cities of Death is an Urban Maelstrom of War mission series then City Fights are the Urban Eternal War Missions. This means predetermined objectives like holding buildings, destroying them, killing infantry, or taking objective markers and so on.

Mobility is good, but infiltrate is the real winner here. Some of the deployment options are restrictive so having infiltrate makes RG a nightmare for your opponent.

The Incursion FOC grants objective secured to troops and infantry units interceptor if they are within 6” of a vehicle at the cost of no RoWs. A dreadnought talon with escorting infantry stalking through the cityscape come to mind.

100th Post and Raven Guard Legion Tactica: The Legion and Units Part One v1.1

100 posts!

Raven Guard Legion Tactica: The Legion and Units Part One v1.1

Raven Guard were my first army back when I started Warhammer. When the Horus Heresy expansion came out I instantly fell in love with it. I knew the day would come for Raven Guard to get their legion tactics and units. When they came I could not have been happier. I'll be drafting this up and posting them as more eyes can help point out errors and the like. Now this obviously isn't the be-all-end-all of a Raven Guard tactica but I've done some research and played a fair amount of games. So it should at least serve as a starting point.

Before I begin, allow me to paint the Raven Guard mindset for those unfamiliar or new to the XIXth Legion:

While World Eaters go after anything that moves, Emperors Children find the most grandiose way they can to dance around their opponent, Imperial Fists seek the Warlord and other worthy opponents, we Sons of Corax exploit weakness. Fighting fair is for the glory seekers. We are about getting the job done efficiently and quickly. We may not have the biggest Death Star or the toughest units but we are really, really good at killing anything better than any other legion. Our Rite of War is perfect for alpha strikes. Our unique units, rules for superior positioning and mobility are perfect for applying the correct counter to your opponents units when and where you want.

In terms of game-mechanics the RG legion is one of the two most adaptable and variable Legion list. The other being Alpha Legion. The RG list strengths lie in it's ability to hit what you want, with the most effective unit for the job when you want to. The options for doing so are numerous. While you can reasonably expect certain things from other legions, especially when they take a RoW, a Raven guard list can vary wildly while still being strong at hitting first and hard. They can be a shock-tactics style list with numerous Drop Pods supported by infiltrated units, a mechanized infantry list with infiltrating rhinos, or a infantry based list where everything is perfectly infiltrated to ambush your opponent. Or any combination of those tactics. All from the same Rite of War: The Decapitation Strike.

Let's start with the basics.

Why if you think CSM are bad, you lack imagination.

I am so tired of every bodies whining about how "bad" CSM are and how it is a "terrible codex." I just won a tournament using only CSM and no Heldrakes. So they obviously can't be terrible.

I'm writing to tell you why CSM are good. Very good. As well as the options you can get that can face anything. I've noticed most people who claim CSM are bad tend to think very narrowly and focus on the few specific instances of things that are considered bad or think that it is just "Codex: Generic Chaos Legion". These are the most vocal across the internet. No surprise there. So I am going to provide examples of synergy and the bigger picture.

It isn't just about how these units act alone, no unit can survive a whole army alone. People also tend to provide examples of units that counter them which in their eyes automatically make them "bad". If this same logic is applied to every unit then every unit in this game is bad.  Or similarly people like to say "Well I'll just use this to counter it lol." That is meta-gaming list-tailoring and an invalid argument.

This codex is about synergy. It won't hold your hand by giving you a nothing but good stand alone units. It will however let you exploit things like Marked Lords for taking excellent Elites as Troops.

Make your opponent have to choose between two bad decisions for them. If your opponent has an amazing list with great target priority and sweeps not just you but everyone else then it is because they are better than you, plain and simple. I am addressing, and hoping to eliminate, the over-abundance of linear/narrow thinking. Now, if you are looking for a dedicated tactica, this is not a dedicated tactica of the whole codex or for new Chaos players(though if you do have any questions feel free to ask and don't be put off by some of the things I say. This is not addressed to people new to CSM, its for people who know what it does but get stuck in preplanned scenarios, use units for reasons other than their intended purpose and the like while trying to be competitive.). This codex isn't perfect and not every unit is tournament viable, but that doesn't change the fact that over all it is Tier 1, even without Heldrakes.

Yeah, I said it.  

Tier 1 without Heldrakes.